Note: It has recently ( 2-2001) come to my
attention that a site called Iwon.com is "giving" away Meikai cameras for only
$6.95! It's not the model pictured here...it's even worse. I signed my dog up. She won the
camera too. And even though they state that you're limited to one per person, my dog was
able to order ten. She didn't follow through with the order, but she could have had ten
free plastic cameras for only $69.95! If anyone is willing to send in a review of
the Iwon.com Meikai camera, I'd love to post it. -MM

With optional sunshade.

Without optional sunshade.

Click on the camera for a larger view.

Marcy's Meikai Camera Review:

Belonging to that family of 35 SLR wanna-be's, the
Meikai appears very realistic. But something's fishy in Hong Kong. Purchased at the
Goodwill for $2.99, this plastic camera came with its plastic sunshade. When the sunshade
is attached to the fixed focus lens it obscures much of the view through the viewfinder.
This is one of those crappy 35's with the hump on top, making it look as though it's
an SLR...but it's a viewfinder camera. A simple viewfinder with a huge parallax problem.
I'd anticipated this and corrected for it and didn't do too bad of a job, if I may say so
myself.

Some of the image area is in focus, while other
areas are not. The area of the image that is in focus changes with each frame. Every now
and then an image is completely out of focus. Not a shaken-camera out of focus, just
fuzzy. Probably due to the whack-o film plane.

This Meikai has a motor drive that actually works! 2
AA batteries and you're on your way. The motor drive is noisy and sounds just like one of
those plastic kid's lawnmowers. You know? The fake ones that blow bubbles? Anyway, there's
no manual back-up. So, if you're way out in the Masai Mara, shooting the elusive albino
hyena, and you run out of AA's, you're SOL. Even the rewind is battery operated.

This camera's features, some real, others imagined,
could possibly have brought about an evolution in levels of crappiness in the crappy 35
category. Not a simple callous design... in fact, I find it rather cheeky.

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